Stephen Robertson

NED & Chairman : retail, financial services, logistics, energy.

[Stephen Robertson @MrSPRobertson]

@Withings why has my PWV reading suddenly stopped working on my app? It still recorded on my scales so clearly a Withins failure to share data.

[AJ Investment Research @alojoh]

Hi, polyglot speaking here: best way to study any language is
A) 'situational' learning. The way I would explain it is that the brain connects vocabulary with situations. For example, if you always study words at your desk your brain connects the words with that situation (at your desk, in your room, calm environmet - highly artifical situation relative to language) and hence won't be able to retrieve them in the real world situation, at least not fast enough. Learn words in applicable situation. When you mix up words, use nmemonics.

B) Second, always learn new words in set phrases and ideally in different tenses (depending on language) or modalities (interrogatives, commands, questions etc.).

This way, you can bypass grammar. Studying grammar by itself is only useful for writing but having to think about grammar in spoken language is too slow. A) + B) solve that problem naturally.

Also, try to speak fast. This solves many pronounciation issues. The higher data rate (more information per unit of time) gives the listener's brain more clues to piece together what you try to say even without correct pronouciation (as long as it is not too off). This is particular useful in 'tonal' languages like Mandarin or Vietnamese which can be exceptionally hard for Western people to master due to lack of tones in their mother tongues: when you have a language background without tones you're brain outright refuses to differentiate since it was trained to compress income signals. You have to break that mechanism first before you can hear the different tones EXCEPT if you had musical training during young age (D).

(E) Repeat, repeat, repeat: switch to the language you're studying as often as possible. You can talk to yourself if there is nobody around you can talk to. Nowadays you can talk to AI. AI can correct you. The most imortant is that YOU speak.

Above allows everyone to study any language regardless of age. In essence it's how kids acquire language.

However, (D) will make a GIANT difference. So if you want your kid to have it easy studying new languages, make sure it trains on a classical instruments from early age. This will pay enormous dividends in language acquisition.

[Stephen Robertson @MrSPRobertson]

@AnAlbumADay1 This was indeed their finest moment...

[Stephen Robertson @MrSPRobertson]

Extraordinary commitment to their customers and each other at Timpson Livingston. Great service is easy to say but oh so difficult to deliver consistently as this team does. Fabulous start to the day. @sid_hubbard

[Stephen Robertson @MrSPRobertson]

Gosh, how can we talk so much about the need for productivity when I cannot consistently phone or work online on a train Manchester London or London Bristol Surely the cabling necessary is already largely place? Hopeless connectivity. @UKRailTrack

[James Timpson @JamesTCobbler]

Here’s some brilliant news…..we came 2nd in the UK’s Customer Service Index! It’s amazing to be on a list with so many top companies, and is testament to my incredible colleagues serving customers with so much kindness. (Last week 5% of our transactions were done for free.)

[James Timpson @JamesTCobbler]

As a company we are very proud to pay all our taxes. Thanks to the Fair Tax Foundation for accrediting us again this year.

[Timothy Armoo @TimArmoo]

8. Focus on a very small market.

We made our first £1 million by solely focusing on mobile apps, and we made our next few million by focusing on music labels.

Eventually, we then broadened out further but only by focusing on a small subset of the market did we start to win.

[Timothy Armoo @TimArmoo]

6. Your team knows when someone is not performing up to standard.

They're just waiting for you to make the call.

How you approach this will dictate whether you build a culture of B players or A players.

[BARRY @ClareBarry]

I wrote another thing. This time it's about grammar. Sorry in advance. https://t.co/xFY0QSQ7ou

[James Timpson @JamesTCobbler]

Every week we measure how our colleagues are feeling with a little survey. It’s a simple mark out of 10 and takes less than a minute to complete. This weeks average score across the business was 8.3.

[James Timpson @JamesTCobbler]

Thanks so much to the whole Keele University community for welcoming me as their new Chancellor. I’m super excited to take on the role, and look forward to supporting the students and staff in the years to come.

[James Timpson @JamesTCobbler]

What do you think of our new line in eco keys?

[James Timpson @JamesTCobbler]

As the clocks go forward today we know next week will be a good one for our watch repair business. Twice a year we get a boost as customers dig out their old watches and clocks to alter the time, and often notice they need repairing. We don’t complain!

[James Timpson @JamesTCobbler]

This is Lytham Timpson, our second smallest shop in the company. The smallest is Victoria Station which is half as small again!

[James Timpson @JamesTCobbler]

Thanks Rosie for explaining how recruiting great people from prison helps you and the team @theCOOKkitchen

[James Timpson @JamesTCobbler]

The most important event in my time as a leader was recruiting my first prisoner Matt 18 years ago. Setting up Employment Advisory Boards, and now rolling them out to 91 prisons, is the second most important thing I’ve done. Here is some more information on how you can help.

[James Timpson @JamesTCobbler]

This morning Zak cut the ribbon on his new shop we’ve opened in Helsby. The good news for Zak is it’s his first management role. The bad news for Zak it’s now our new local Timpson shop…only 5 minutes from our home! Good luck on your new adventure Zak.

[Andrew Lynch @andrewtlynch]

Shhhhhh! #Bristol